There’s a famous saying that “Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm,” but Dr Archana Singh made her way by beating against all odds and reaching the top with her courage, and fierce willingness to hold her ground in a male-dominated world and not-so-open-minded community of Bihar. She wears her heart on her sleeves and has emerged as the apex prototype of a successful, confident, yet humble psychiatrist and social reformer.
Dr Archana Singh did her MBBS from Calcutta National Medical College, Kolkata, in 2005, and her MD in Psychiatry after doing DPM from the prestigious and famous Central Institute of Psychiatry, Kanke, Ranchi. After completing her studies, she joined Bihar Health Services. She started working at Bihar State Institute of Mental Health and Allied Sciences, Koilwar, the only Mental Hospital in the state, running amidst a lack of resources and the Government’s unwillingness and insensitivity towards mental health patients.
Looking at the pathetic state of affairs, lack of awareness, and stigma related to mental illnesses and to provide quality and affordable care, she opened her psychiatric centre, ‘Divyansh Neuropsychiatry Centre’ at Ashiana Nagar, Patna, to treat psychiatric disorders. Dr Singh’s centre offers the necessary investigations like EEG, ECG, and psychological tests. It provides need-based quality treatment, including pharmacotherapy, psychotherapeutic management, biofeedback, and counselling to patients from all strata of society. Dr Singh firmly believes that promoting, preventing, and treating mental health-related issues early in the course could lead to attaining the desired potential and improved quality of life, which is the basic right of every individual. Because of this, and to make her centre more approachable, she provides free consultation, investigations, and medications to patients with poor socioeconomic status and runs free OPD every Monday for BPL patients with mental problems.
Because of her love for teaching and motivating medical students to understand psychiatry and mental health issues, Dr Singh joined as an assistant professor at Netaji Subhash Medical College and Hospital, Patna. Addressing the lack of resources regarding qualified mental health professionals, she stated that mental diseases will become a primary health-related concern, and we need a significant workforce to tackle the challenge.
She wasn’t born with a silver spoon in her mouth; she has strived hard to see the light of this day. She was born in a middle-class family in Varanasi. Dr Singh’s father, a bank employee, and mother, a homemaker, moved to Varanasi in their early career, where she received all her school education with her three siblings. Her parents had a broader vision, always supported her dreams, and wanted her to make a mark in society and have an identity of her own. Dr Singh suffered a major setback when she lost her elder sister in a Tsunami in 2004 during her MBBS internship. She decided to put her devastated family above her dreams. She catered to their needs at challenging times, reflecting her strong character in putting the needs of others before herself.
It won’t be wrong to say that her life has been no less than a roller-coaster ride. Her entire pregnancy passed, running up and down from Patna to Varanasi only to be able to arrange and provide the best treatment for her father, who had been battling cancer for a very long time, but he finally succumbed. She took this news courageously and moved forward, setting up her centre and catering to the needs of psychiatric patients. Having closely observed the pain and suffering of cancer patients and the impact of the illness on mental health, she started to liaise with various cancer hospitals to develop consultation-liaison psychiatry units to provide a better quality of life to patients suffering from end-stage diseases. All this while she received constant love and support from her husband; therefore, it would be no exaggeration to alter an adage and say that there’s a man behind most successful women.
Dr Archana Singh, a mother of eleven-year-old Divyansh Baladitya Singh and six-year-old Aadvik Baladitya Singh, says that her focus and emphasis are primarily on women’s and children’s mental health. Women face different challenges and changes at every age, e.g. during pregnancy, while giving birth, and postpartum. They go through many changes at the physical and emotional levels. During this, sometimes situations are as such or are created that adversely affect their mental health, which must not be ignored. We should talk openly and frankly with such patients to administer timely treatment. She also mentioned that most of the vulnerabilities of mental health disorders are apparent during childhood and early adolescence, and identification and intervention at this stage are crucial in preventing further deterioration. She also emphasises providing understanding-based sex education to teens to prevent unsafe exploration and trauma. Other areas of interest are geriatric psychiatry and addiction psychiatry.
In conversation with the editorial team, she narrated how painful it is to see lives suffering from mental illnesses without treatment and how we, as a society, lack compassion towards persons with mental illnesses. Lack of awareness, education, poverty, stigma, and social rejection associated with mental disorders are major reasons for the treatment gap. To address these issues and to create awareness, her centre runs various campaigns, awareness programs, and support programs to reduce the treatment gap and enhance patients’ lives. Dr Singh puts extra emphasis on education, primarily on female education, and moving a step ahead, her centre runs a program called Bitiya Dhan Yojna, which provides financial and other support to educate girl children of underprivileged neighbourhoods by associating with various schools.
Dr Singh is affiliated with many professional organisations and enthusiastically participates in various programmes, believing that psychiatric disorders have Bio-Psycho-Socio-Political underpinnings, so all the stakeholders and policymakers must join hands to alleviate the sufferings of mentally ill persons.
She is an Assistant Hon General Secretary of the Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS), the largest organisation of psychiatrists in India, and a fellow member of the Indian Association of Private Psychiatry (IAPP) and the Addiction Psychiatric Society of India (APSI).
She is also an active member of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and was awarded the National President Special Appreciation Award of IMA in 2021 for her extraordinary organisational skills. She has been nominated as a member of the State Working Committee of the IMA Bihar State Branch for 2022-2023.
Considering her services to the people of Bihar and her treatment of needy people during disasters and crises via an NGO called ‘Yugaantar’ and also under the banner of Divyansh Neuropsychiatry Centre, a famous National Magazine bestowed on her ‘Visionaries of Bihar’ award in 2021. It was honoured by renowned actor Mr. Pankaj Tripathi. For her multidimensional and continuous efforts towards the betterment of patients with mental illnesses, she was well-recognised and was bestowed with India Today’s Top 50 Icons of India award.
Dr Archana Singh received the Youth Icon of Bihar award based on her popularity among the youth. Her centre collaborates with many schools to run school mental health programs. Dr Singh believes early detection and management of children’s mental health issues can help enhance their growth and development. She also runs various skill development and women empowerment programs across Bihar to help women achieve financial independence and confidence. She is running multiple rehabilitation programmes permissible within her limited resources for the holistic development of her patients.
